By Asoka Seneviratne –

About a week ago, myself and my visited an ABANS showroom near Battaramulla , shopping for a split air conditioner for our home. A very friendly sales associate /manager approached us and pushed us to buy a 12000 BTU for over Rs 250,000.00. We noticed his eagerness to sell the LG brand and wanted to enquire and other and cheaper brands. Perhaps the pricier LG’s were not selling.,.

Reluctantly he showed us the Chinese brand Haier units that were over Rs 50,000 cheaper at Rs, 199,000.00 for a 120000 BTU split AC. He explained to us that the Haier unit had one year full warranty and a 5 year compressor warranty.  He did ask us the size of the room and based on my experience with AC’s in SL for several decades, I opted for a 12000 BTU unit meant for just one room.

A few days later we informed him that we wanted to pay the Rs 199,000.00 for the 12000 BTU Haier AC unit. He informed us that he wanted to come over and figure out the best way to install the AC unit, which he did. He came in with another young gentleman. We told him that the only way we would buy the AC was if he agreed to remove the old wall mounted AC in the room and cover the small hole thus created, we even told him we would provide the material do so.

He conferred with his companion and agreed. Told us that he would come on his day off and do so. We were happy.

Then he dropped a bombshell at us. He said the room size was too large and we should purchase a 18000 BTU AC unit instead of the 12000 BTU. He also told us that if we bought the 12000 BTU AC they would not offer any Warranty . The reason he gave me was that given the size of the room, a 12000 BTU AC would run too long causing the compressor to burn out. We accepted that theory and opted to buy the 18000 BTU unit costing over Rs 50000.00 more. He agreed to install the unit the next day itself.

By the way, the window AC that was already on the wall. That was 12000 BTU and after over 30 long years it was still running and cooling the room real fast. The only reason we wanted to replace was the high energy consumption and badly decayed panels etc.

We paid for Rs 18000 BTU AC unit right away with the credit card. He claimed the payment did not go through the first time and told us to pay again. Then we noticed a quick change in his attitude. He was busy answering other calls, not too worried about when he was going to install the AC the next day. I had to remind him that, per his promise we expect the new AC to be installed the next day.

Later we found out that he charged our credit card twice and cancelled one. Not sure why he did that.

Came next day and we heard nothing back from him. I called him around midday, and he came out with the most common excuse. He said he could not get hold of the installer. I reminded him of his promise to install the next day. He insisted that it was not his fault. I insisted that he should get his ducks in a row before making a promise. I demanded that I wanted the AC installed that day as promised.

A few hours later two guys showed up to install the AC. They were going to drill a 3-inch hole on the wall to run the copper tubing but cautioned them that there was a cold-water PVC pipe running through the wall and be careful where they would drill. Few minutes later I watched them drilling a large hole exactly where the water pipe was running through the wall. Then they tried to force a big bundle of copper tubing through the hole where the water pipe was very visible. I asked them what if the water pipe was to burst. Reluctantly they agreed to drill another hole. They drilled another hole but left the previous hole just covered with cement. I am supposed to paint it.

Then they installed the indoor and outdoor units for the split AC. They connected the copper tubing, connected the power, and turned the AC on. I asked them if they connected a vacuum pump to vacuum the air out of the copper tubing they ran. The answer was no, and not needed. Then I asked them if they installed a filter/dryer on those copper refrigerant lines. They replied no, not needed. I asked them if the air and moisture was still in the new tubing and that could cause premature failure of the compressor. They innocently smiled. And said they never vacuum, nor do they install filter dryers.

Shocking, the sales manager was very quick to insist that we upgrade to 18000 BTU to protect the compressor from  failure but the installer insisted that there was no need to remove air and moisture in the system and add a filter dryer that was all helping to protect the expensive compressor. More importantly, these  are universally accepted right  refrigeration practice all over the world mostly to protect the refrigeration components including the compressor.

I asked them if they leak tested then flare joins of both ends of the copper lines they ran. Again, the reply was NO and not needed. Shocking. Again, leak testing specially flared copper lines and joints is standard universal refrigeration practice. Now if the freon  leak was tiny and would cause less or no colling after one year, I would have to pay Abans to fix it ! For  a problem they created during the install.

Is it not possible then that the compressor prematurely fail not because the AC is undersized but due to bad refrigeration practices?

Our surprises are not over yet. We asked the sales manager for the warranty card. He told us they no longer provide a card but the email receipt they sent mentions the warranty. I read the email receipt and was shocked again. It says if we want a 5-year warranty we need to sign an agreement form the 2^nd year on. When asked, the manager told me that would cost another Rs.8000.00 a year and also we should ask for it. That was never ever mentioned before the sale. So if after two years, I failed to contact Abans and sign a service agreement, I would no longer get the 5-year compressor warranty! How convenient for Abans.

Remember the sales manager who promised to remove my old wall  AC unit and cover the small hole? He never called us or came to us. We called him to find out when he would keep his promise. His reply was yet another shocker. He claimed he could not remember making such a promise. A shocking lie! He lied to us just so that he could make a sale for which he gets a commission, period.

So we learned a lesson again.

But the government too has a role here to protect the consumer. They can legislate to protect the consumer from such crooked deals. They need to legislate that the vendor in this case Abans need to make full disclosure in writing of all the conditions prior to getting paid. Ie. 5 years warranty is conditional on a 2 nd year agreement at cost, the vendor needs to provide 2^nd year agreement at the time of the purchase, no warranty if they found the AC capacity is too small and delivery date will be within the promised date etc, so that the consumer can make an informed  decision.

Above is my experience with Abans. I have taken the trouble to share my experience so that another potential buyer would benefit.

I am sure Abans is not alone in these bad practices. While not a top priority at all, AKD and his team can introduce legislation to protect consumers from large corporate vendors. No prior administration ever cared to protect consumers in the said manner.

So now my new 18000 BTU AC is running and cooling real fast despite the claim by Abans that a 12000 BTU unit was too small. But the refrigeration circuit is full of air and moisture. When my compressor eventually fails, is it possible that the failure was caused by terrible refrigeration practices but not due to an undersized AC unit, as Abans claimes.

Early this year, the refrigerator I bought from Abans several years ago stopped cooling. I called Abans service and paid something in the region of Rs 2500 or Rs 3000 for the tech to come and troubleshoot the issue. The tech came and just told us that in order to troubleshoot he needed to take the unit to the Abans shop. He never opened any panels or used any meters etc. but the only thing we got for our money was to be told the fridge must go to Abans to troubleshoot.

Buyer be aware!